Matching Tracksuits

Last Great Day…yeah, right! It’s a terrible day in that it’s the last day with Shannon…then separation for an eternity, or so it feels. I’m going to miss her so much.

The day started usual. I ate my Fruit Loops, then read about Pip’s Great Expectations for a while before I got dressed for church. Shannon wore her hair in a braid today. It didn’t look as good as usual, but it still was lovely. But, then again, she’s quite captivating and charming. After lunch we (Shannon, Ramon, and I) walked around town for a while, then came back to the room and just sat around. The last hymn today was “Behold, The Day Will Come.” I wasn’t sitting with her, but I’m sure mom was crying. Maybe not…she may have gotten a hold of her emotions. You never can tell about mom.

Tonight was great. Shannon and I went out alone and it was superb. We started with dinner at “The Olive Garden.” It was an Italian restaurant that was quite nice. Then we went to see Funny About Love. It was quite an amicable movie. Shannon began crying before the movie began. Quite depressing, if you ask me.

Tomorrow is the last day we’ll be together. It’s terrible to think about, but the time has to come. It came all too soon, however. The feast is just a blur…it whizzed by at incredible speed. Pretty soon, all that will be left is just memories.

I’m definitely getting depressed!

We went to The Loft for dinner tonight. We had quite a time. Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. Hogue went with us. I had another rib eye. I was going to have a porter house, but dad was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to eat it. The steak wasn’t the best I’ve had this feast, but it wasn’t too shabby. But tomorrow night will be even better…

We went shopping again today. Shannon got an outfit for tomorrow night. I finally got Red Dust and Spanish Lace. It’s great. I’m really glad that I finally have it. Now, when I get home, I’ll go see Coach and get my Pat Metheny album. I really miss it. Now I have two really mellow albums. I might get another New Age album. It’s really great music. I would have gotten another one if I had thought about it earlier..but I didn’t, and that’s life.

Mr. Comino had the sermon today. It was the best of the feast, I thought. It was really good, but dad missed it. Someone called him at 1:00 AM last night and he had to go counseling and didn’t get back until 6:30 AM this morning. Terrible things happen at the feast sometimes…

In St. Pete a little girl was found at the bottom of the pool and her parents were told that she would die, but she didn’t. Pretty cool, eh?

Jack Daniels…what can you say about it? We went to see the J.D. distillery today. Big thrill, eh? Oh, yeah. It only took three hours to go there and back, not counting the time spent there. It wasn’t worth the drive. But most everyone else thought it was well worth it. We got to see the grain fermenting It looked like vomit and smelled worse. I almost got sick and so did Shannon. We both fell asleep on the way home. I woke up first and it was cool watching her sleep. I don’t know why I think that, but it was.

For dinner tonight we went to Bennegins. I had a burger, but really didn’t want one. I wasn’t hungry and all food really sounded sick. But I ate my burger anyway. It was alright.

Shannon and I watched quite a movie tonight. It was called, Gnaw: Food For Gods II. Some lady invented a growth hormone that made things grow super huge, rats ate it somehow, then went around killing everyone. Quite scary! Ha, ha.

Today was family day, and I guess we spent it as a family. I just thought I’d throw that in.

I haven’t see Laurel since the third day, or so. I’m surprised. I haven’t seen Tonya since the first day…I’m not surprised. Shannon doesn’t really like her, I think. But that’s just the impression I got.

Only two days and one morning left. It’s gone by so fast. We’ve been together for a week now, actually more, and it only seems as if it’s been a couple of days. It’s sad. I’m going to miss Shannon terribly. But I only have to wait about six months before I can see her, this time.

I said something about working for Shannon’s dad next summer and Shannon thought I probably could. I doubt ma and pa would go for that, on both sides, but it would be cool if they did.

I’ve done almost no homework while here. I’m going to have to work my rear off on Friday when I get back and on Sunday, probably Saturday night, too. It was well worth it, though.

When I get home it’s going to be such a strange feeling. It was last year. I felt as if something was wrong (There was!) and as if something was missing (Someone was!). I hope leaving this time will be easier. I doubt it.

Shannon and I were going to try to go out by ourselves tonight, but it didn’t work out. I guess we’ll be able to on Thursday night. I sure hope so!

I’M GETTING DEPRESSED!!!

The feast is over tomorrow…then The Last Great Day, then the Last Terrible Day…Friday morning…Shannon’s leaving on a jet plane…gone for months…living only in my mind…kept alive in my memory…

If Ruby Falls too far, she could get hurt. We went to see her trip today and fall down a long shaft. The tour guide (Trip) (What a name, eh?) was quite dumb. He kept trying to make jokes that weren’t even funny. I don’t think that anyone in our group liked him. Mom and all the grownups really thought he was bad. I didn’t think he was that bad, but we could have had a better guide, I guess.

Shannon and I watched Total Recall tonight in the room. It was better than I expected. As expected, dad came in and stood there watching…drove me crazy.

I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but yesterday I participated in a survey to see if I would like to see a particular movie. It took forever.

Dinner tonight was at Steak and Ale. Mr. Cook bought if for all of us. Dad didn’t put up much of a fuss. I was kind of surprised. He usually doesn’t let people do that. I guess he made an exception tonight.

Shannon and I called Julie Ely tonight. She’s one of Shannon’s friend. I asked if she was “Easy Ely” and she got a little upset with me and said…well, never mind what she said. But it wasn’t very nice.

I got Rattle and Hum on video today. I also got a Talking Heads album because it was only $5.99 and I always wondered what they sound like. I’m glad I only spent six bucks on it. It’s not that great. Shannon bought Black Celebration for someone and for herself got Violator, and 101. Then, as I was paying for my stuff, she went back and got The Best Of The Beatles. We’ve spent $90 there this week. Pretty wild, eh? Oh, yeah — I got another Depeche Mode album yesterday. It’s their first one, Speak and Spell and it’s pretty good, but not like any of their others. M. Gore didn’t only wrote two songs of the eleven.

Time to go. The feast is slowly coming to an end. It’s going to be terrible to leave. But dad is seriously thinking about going to Spokane for the feast next year. That would be great. I would really like that…

I passed up some deals today…only $800 for a sport jacket at this one place. It was supposed to be factory outlet stores, but it was sickening. I was getting mad because of the prices people were expected to pay for cloths. I saw a dress shirt for $99.99, and the only reason was the tag: Ralph Lauren. He makes a bundle selling twenty dollar shirts for five times that much.

I finally got Shannon a feast gift. I got her a Black Hills Gold ring. It’s quite nice. She finally got me something…a leather bomber jacket. It’s nice. I like it a lot. I can’t wait until I can find a reason to wear it.

We went to Grady’s and took Aunt Judy and Mrs. Yodder and, of course, Shannon. I liked it a lot. Shannon and I had to — well, got to — eat at a separate table. I loved that. I hope we can go out by ourselves sometime…on a real date.

I finally got some homework done today. I did a little Trig and almost finished my English Vocab. I still have a lot to do, though. I guess I’ll do that on Sunday.

We Rocked in the City today. Ha, ha! We went to Rock City today. Shannon and I were ahead of everyone, but, of course, we didn’t do anything but walk and look at the rocks. The Gibbs went with us. Mrs. Gibbs is weird. “Jimmy, Jimmy!” or “Let’s go chopping at Chopco!”

Went to the Fifth Quarter for dinner tonight. We (Shannon and I) called Dave and talked to him for a little while. I told him that I was going to get him “Seconds Out.” I don’t know why I just wrote that…it had nothing to do with the subject at hand, eh? Yeah, wee that’s life.

We also went to the Incline Railway…wow! Then we walked to Point Park and saw the Carrolls there. Thrilling, eh?

Time for bed. See you tomorrow. The days are beginning to run together now. It’s really getting confusing. Dad’s supposed to have the opening prayer tomorrow. How cool, eh?

Rain, rain, rain. It’s just about 9:35 AM but I figured I’d get started writing on this. Mr. Robinette is down parking and I can look out and look at him and it started raining a lot — in sheets — and he’s wet.

We’re getting ready to go to dinner now. I don’t really have anything to write about. Laurel sat with Shannon and I today, and I think that Shannon was a little envious of Laurel…as if there’s anything to be jealous of, eh? I kept teasing Laurel about Sorah and how they should do lots of things together this feast. She didn’t like the idea too awful much. I don’t guess I can blame her on that one.

I’m going to try to get some sushi tonight. Mom probably won’t want me to, but that’s life. I’ll still try to get some.

I have to start reading Great Expectations sometime. I’ll have to do a report on it when I get back, so I guess it would be best if I read it before we go home. But I already know what it’s about, so it’s no big deal, I guess.

Just a little bit before I go to bed. We went to Kanpai and Kevin proposed to Michelle near the end of the evening. She was going crazy. I thought she had eaten something hot and was all excited about that. I guess she was excited about something being hot…